Adolescents face daily tradeoffs between human capital investment, labor,
and leisure. This paper exploits state variation in the repeal of Sunday
closing laws to examine the impact of a distinct and plausibly exogenous
rise in the quantity of competing diversions available to youth on their
educational attainment. The results suggest that the repeals led to a
significant decline in both years of education and the probability of high
school completion. I explore increased employment and risky behaviors as
potential mechanisms. Further, I find a corresponding decline of the repeals
on adult wages. (Contains 9 tables, 2 figures, and 20 footnotes.)